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Revere High Football Sets Sight on Season Opener

It was a mixed bag for the Revere High football team this past week in a pair of scrimmages that concluded the Patriots’ pre-season schedule.

Revere first took part in a three-way scrimmage last Tuesday evening under the lights of the Manning Bowl against St. Mary’s of Lynn and Northeast Regional Vocational School.

“We did a lot of things well against St. Mary’s and Northeast,” said RHS head coach Lou Cicatelli, who is entering his 11th season at the helm of the Patriot football program. “We moved the ball on offense and played strong defense. There were a lot of very encouraging signs on both sides of the ball.”

However, the coach was not as pleased with his team’s showing four days later in Saturday’s scrimmage with Marblehead. “We came out flat,” said Cicatelli. “Marblehead is a bigger and faster team, but we made a lot of mistakes that hurt us and that could have been avoided.”

The good news for the Patriots is that they have two weeks to iron out the kinks before the season opener next Friday (September 13) at Medford.

“We have a lot of work to do before we open the season at Medford, but everything we did wrong is fixable,” said the coach.

Cicatelli said that sophomore Danny Murphy and senior Ravi Ryland are still locked in a battle for the quarterback spot. Both have been impressive during the pre-season. “Both Danny and Ravi have been playing well and are fighting for the starting nod,” said Cicatelli. “The good news is that even if one is not at quarterback, he’ll still be in our backfield as a running back.”

Also playing well at the signal-caller slot has been sophomore Christian Brito, who tossed a touchdown pass to junior Jerome Berry during the scrimmages. Another underclassmen who showed promise in the scrimmages was sophomore running back Ivan Mertikes, who ran the ball well during his appearances.

The coach also singled out the defensive play of junior safety Mike Norton and senior Brian Bonilla. “Mike was all over the field on Saturday making tackles,” said Cicatelli. “He’s been doing a lot of good things for us. Brian is a tough kid who also has played well in the pre-season.”

The Pats now will focus on preparing for their season-opening opponent, Medford, their former long-time Greater Boston League rival. That contest will be played under the lights just a short drive down the Parkway at the newly-renovated Hormel Stadium on Friday the 13th. Hormel was upgraded last year with a new turf field and should be ready for action regardless of what the weather gods may conjure up for Friday the 13th. The Journal will have a preview of the Revere vs. Medford contest in next week’s paper.